The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-12-10

bank: Harper said he woud furnish IL hiuseii.
Know Harper was bank officer and tnet .ne
agreement was made In the office or tue punn' %
The first call for money was made IN tne sun, ,l
mer of 1890 Don't remember the amount was
made payable to witness by check OIL tne Ell
deity made payable TO witness insead OF MS iifih
because Harper preferred 1880 Had no in,er-
est in their wheat transactions save as o proker.
The purchases OF wheat were not mace III Ine
name Of Harper but Wiltshire, Eckert q 20.
Never tried to negotiate q loan " Cleveiana.
Have 100 shares or Fidelity stock standing In my
name. Borrowed money to pay for the SIOUX.
Afterwnrd there was transferred 70
INV name some 400 OF 800 shares OF
stock by Harper to borrow money on TO iiquidate
Indebtedness arising out OF the wheat purchase:
Witness received eight promissory notes OF
$4,000 each, from. J.i,v. Lewis payaoio
ut different times without interest rms
money went to Chicago The notes
were payablc TO witness, but wont In TO
the wheat deal by agreement between Lewis,
Harper ind Wiltshire Witness owed Harpoi
money prior to the wheat deal ana dceoee
property on Walnut Hills to secure aloan. In9
aggregate of the checks drawn on tho FIRST NAY
tional Bank Of this city by witness and @ depos Jos
tied with Harper was o little less than %DO,VUu,
and on the Merchants National Bank abou
sos 600. The aggregate OF the amount drawn Q,
the Fidelity was si50,O00. january 81, lSs!
Wiltshire drew check for Wiltshire, Eckert8
Co. for si7,5OO on the First National Bank. VI
answered that their accounts varied so mucL
could not soy. Did not have q balance OF SlO,UO
Drew the check knowing they hM no sucf
deposit there gave tho check 10 Harper. ane
he held 1t as memorandum against me- Tnese
checks were given with the understanding Ina
they were to be taken care OF by Harper, No
knowing very well that l did not have tha'
amount OF money. @. Well then, explain u
these we're all for the debts of Harper us an IN
dividuaD why you were putting them in such
sacred form us Is evidenced by these checKs,ane
those checks drawn on another bank in whicr
You knew you had no money! A. simply De
cause Harper suggested I should do so ir
order to facilitate the getting OF funds
to Chicago. @. Then you were Know
ingly acting IN connection with Harper IN
the obtaining OF this credits A. NO, sir;
gnve the checks to Harper because thoughthe
was abundantly able to take care of them, anc
he was holding them until such o time as the
deal was ended; he said he would rather have
these checks for the money than receipts.
merely looked on them rs receipts.
Ebenezer Scofield, cashier of the First Ma.
tional Bank of New York CITY, with which the
Fidelity had financial relations, was the next
witness on the stand. Mr.. Sco8eld testified
that he made n loan to the Fidelity on certif !
Gates OF deposite dated April ~ and 2S OF 500;
600 each. They came to his bank he said, nc
companicd by letter and paper collateral
The letter was dated April "a md ac
companied big block OF notes of Riv-
erside Iron and Steel Company. Swift's
Iron and Steel Works, T.. L. Harper s. Co., O.
Aultman & Co., wiltshire Eckert Co.. Wardei
& Co., Champion Machine Company Ice q Co..
Warder, Bushnell & Co., the total being some
| $i43OOO. letter was read from Harper asking
| the First National Bank for n wider line OF
| credit by discount on two more certificates OF
| s20OOOo. The reply OF the bank was also read.
| giving tho rates of discount and the rates of in
| terest OH reserves. copy OF the Fidelity's
| special and general accounts with Mr.. Scoheld's
| bank was offered in evidence he verifying them.
| @. Did you collect on any OF the Fidelity colat-
| erals A. Very much OF 1t. O. What is the
amount OF your claim against the receiver OF
the Fidelity? A. About Sl500N. Cross-ex-
animation by Judge Wilson was very brief and
| only corroborative of examination in Chief
W. J. Qrinlan, cashier of the Chemical Ma
| tional Bank of New York, was the next wit
| ness called to the stand. Our bank loaned to
| Fidelity on March :, S300,000 on paper collateral
| and II certificate OF deposit for that amount
| dated February Is. signed by Cashier Ammi
| Baldwin and indorsed by E. L. Harper Harper
| never had personal account in our bank. We
| received collnterals of the Fidelity Bank June
21, 81, 100000. AL our advances to help the Fl.
| deity pull through have been paid, and that
| bank doesn't owe US cent to-day
| CINCINNATI Dec. 2-Ebenezer Schoheld,
| Cashier First National Bank OF New York City,
| testified that T.. L. Harper had no personal &C.
! count in his bank. The Fidelity had about
| S20s,OOO to its credit February 12. Collected
about siOO, 900 on collnterals, which was applied
! to tho payment of the loan.
| General Eugene Powell. United States Bank
| Examiner for the Southern District of the
| State OF Ohio, testified that he examined the
| Fidelity bank March II. 1887, and found it in
| good condition. The aggregate cash resources
| were then $3.50, 013.b0, mostly notes and dis
| counts Examined the bank agnin on June 70,
| 1887. Soon after my arrival In the bank Har
l nd Hnr1- ms in
| there. informed Cashier Baldwin that was
present for the purpose OF looking into their af-
| fairs, expecting to make an examination. Har-
per must have overheard me; he was close by,
and Immediately came up and asked me to step
| aside little from where Baldwin was.
| I did 80. He asked me II 1 was going
| to make an examination. said yes"
| He told mo he had written to the department,
at Washington, stasng that they had in some
business ventures met with some losses. and he
had just received reply TO his letter, which he
| said was very friendly, and which was to the
effect that they were justified in having time to
recover from legitimate losses in business. He
showed me the letter stating that 1t ought to be
sufficient for me to pass examination He said
he would give me the letter as authority for
such passage. looked the letter over and
told him In my opinion II was not sufficient,
and felt bound to look further into their af-
fairs. Then ho asked me to telegraph the
Comptroller, stating that tho letter had been
shown to me- and that in my opinion it was
] sufficient authority to grant them further
time. told him could not do II, but that 1
would consider any reply OF instructions he
received; without positive orders to the contrary
proposed to make the examination. I then
called for statement from Cashier Baldwin as
to the condition of tho bank. BY thut time
quite o number of the directors and other off,
GERS OF the bank had arrived, and considerable
interchange OF views rs to the situation was CO.
ing on Soon after that was looking over the
books. had the book Of certificates of deposit,
and noticed the last certificates OF deposit that
had been taken off They were three in num-
Der. There was one for $3DO00O, and two
for s200,0OO, making 100000. The name Of
Z, L. Harper was signed on the stubs for the
amount, but the date was not given. Icailed out
Briggs Swift, President of the bank, and called
| his attention TO the amounts on tho stubs. He
looked at them carefully and said he had never
seen them before; that II was q surprise to him.
Afterward called Mr.. Harper's attention to
them and asked for an explanation he turned,
shrugged his shoulders, made me no reply and
walked of. When I got the statement Of the
banks condition asked what the item of cash
consisted OF, and they made o statement as to
| what 1t was II was evidences OF indebted
ness on the part Of Wiltshire, Eckert g. Co., E.
L. Harper & Co.. Swifts Iron and Steel Works
and ]. w. Wiltshire & Co., tho aggregate OF
which was something over @lOO0,000. AS II
wasn't cash, 1t cut down the resources OF the
bank Just to that extent. AS result of my In
J vestigation notified the board of directors as.
sembled, among whom was Harper, that in my
opinion, so much OF their resources had been
i wasted considered their bank insolvent, and